Spanglish: The Most Poorly Marketed Movie Humankind Has Ever Known

So, I finally did it. I watched Spanglish, despite the fact that none of my Orlando friends had seen it in its entirety, despite warnings of "love it or hate it" mentalities, and despite the fact that I had to watch it in the library.

Aside: When I started watching the movie at desk 18, the dialogue track was almost non-existent. There was music, there were birds chirping, but no speech. For the first minute I thought, "Ah, artistic way to show a girl growing up. Clever." After three minutes I thought, "Okay. Uh...This is lame." So I moved over to desk 19 and started over. Much better.

I really, really enjoyed it. So I guess I'm a "lover." Considering the fact that growing up with friends in Orlando who have been studying film and making their own since middle school, I was nervous. I was nervous that I was going to be a hater. I probably dislike 80% of the movies made after 2000 that I see. I'm rarely impressed.

But Spanglish was different. It somehow managed to sidestep every possible cliché that could have made that movie absolutely nauseating. I won't expound too much on that just in case people haven't seen it. I also really liked how it portrayed Flor and Christina's lives before coming to America, and then their emigration to and immersion in America. I was also very embarrassed by the borderline stereotypical but all-too-true white upper class family of the Clasky's.

I hate trying to explain how I feel about movies or music over a blog. If you want to know more, just call me.

I did discover that, as the title of this entry suggests, that this movie had terrible marketing. I mean, seriously. The tag line is: "A comedy with a language all its own." To those of you who have seen this movie and love it: Watch the trailer. It's so incredibly cheesy. How bizarre. I would never, ever have seen that movie in the theater if I had seen that trailer.

So, take notes, marketing and PR majors. Advertising can make or break a product.


I close this entry with a prayer from The Valley of Vision, edited by Arthur G. Bennett. I discovered it last night/this morning while on the phone with Chris:

O Lord,

Thou knowest my great unfitness for service,
my present deadness,
my inability to do anything for thy glory,
my distressing coldness of heart.

I am weak, ignorant, unprofitable,
and loathe and abhor myself.
I am at a loss to know what thou wouldest have me do,
for I feel amazingly deserted by thee,
and sense thy presence so little;

Thou makest me possess the sins of my youth,
and the dreadful sin of my nature,
so that I feel all sin,
I cannot think or act but every motion is sin.

Return again with showers of converting grace
to a poor gospel-abusing sinner.
Help my soul to breathe after holiness,
after a constant devotedness to thee,
after growth in grace more abundantly every day.

O Lord, I am lost in the pursuit of this blessedness,
And am ready to sink because I fall so short of my desire;
Help me to hold out a little longer,
until the happy hour of deliverance comes,
for I cannot lift my soul to thee
if thou of thy goodness bring me not nigh.

Help me to be diffident, watchful, tender,
lest I offend my blessed Friend
in thought and behavior;
I confide in thee and lean upon thee,
and need thee at all times to assist and lead me.

O that all my distresses and apprehensions
might prove but Christ's school
to make me fit for greater service
by teaching me the great lesson of humility.

Amen.

Peace,
Sam